Challenges with Russian Marketing Translation

May 27, 2013

"Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mysteryinside an enigma."- Sir Winston Churchill

Marketing translation is unlike any other types of translation.
It requires special knowledge and skills that are almost opposite
to those required for technical, legal or medical translations. For
example, in the case of technical
translation where the content is usually formulaic,
terminological precision plays a tremendous role. On the
other hand, the main purpose of the marketing translation is to
convey the message, human emotions and the atmosphere of the
particular text. From a linguistic point of view, Russian
marketing content is a boundless "ocean" of metaphors, symbolism,
puns, hyperboles, etc... All of this requires linguists who do not
only "know" the Russian language, but are also strong writers with
their own style, way of thinking and great wish to create content
"modern masterpieces".

Challenges with Russian Marketing Translation

Communications:

We frequently discuss translation challenges with
our clients. We talk about the quality, the clients' expectations,
rates, reference materials and other issues. Gaining a better
understanding of these issues contributes to the successful
cooperation between the client and the translation agency and makes
the process of translation more transparent for the client. This
open communication is what ultimately leads to successful
translation output.

Regulation and Quality:

Marketing and Advertising Translation Services in Russia have no
formal legal validations and they are not subject to special
regulations or certifications. For this very reason the translation
industry in Russia has to work out their own standards. It is a
long, time and skills consuming process which requires great team
work in which the client also participates to produce culturally
appropriate translations. Language leads/copywriters and the
Translation Team, in close cooperation with the client create
glossaries, guidelines and requirements for marketing content
translations.

Terminology:

Russia is a still a developing
country in many ways. While it is one of the most advanced in
science and technology, some industries related to tourism or trade
may be behind the times. While many developed countries are using
the latest terminology for a given industry, and successfully
communicating with each other to conduct business, some areas like
the hospitality industry use terms that the Russian-speaking market
in general are not used to hearing. In this case, the quality of
the translation fully depends on the particular translation agency,
the expertise of its Translation Team and Language Lead who
consistently have to take the responsibility for research and copy
writing terms used in
localized documents or websites.

Translation Teams:

As Russian language marketing content is constantly growing, the
demand for qualified and experienced translators is also
increasing. Translation agencies must test and qualify a lot of new
translators every month, in order to recruit enough qualified
candidates to join account teams covering a multitude of
industries. In addition, Translation Project Managers must do
a good job reviewing resumes, samples and internal team
feedback for new linguists assigned to teams to ensure quality
translation services are always delivered. Translation agencies
should have internal Language Quality Assurance Teams (LQA Team) or
Language Leads who can not only say "yes" or "no" but also coach
the new Russian translators, and can provide them with the needed
reference materials and answer all the questions that can arise
during a translation. Project Management and internal language
support/review for all translated content are considered to be
key stages in the translation process.

Diversity of translations:

The Russian language is lexically very rich and practically
every word except prepositions and pronouns has more than 10 direct
synonyms. Every time a Translation Team chooses a word that conveys
the author's messages correctly, it is the result of research,
study and original copy writing, not necessarily just
translation. Marketing content is especially challenging in
the Russian language because of this linguistic diversity.

Conclusion

Despite the absence of accepted quality standards, lack of key
Russian language terminology for certain industries, challenges to
recruiting and training good translators and the variety of copy
and translation choices, it is imperative to seek out and work with
professional Russian translation teams. The Russian-speaking market
is large and engaging them in their language is a must and the
companies who decide to localize their documentation or
website in Russian will get much more than just translated
content, they will get practically unlimited opportunities for
their business.

Further Resources on Russian Translation and Localization
Services

Globalization Partners International has created a more
extensive overview of globalizing websites for Russian consumers in
a white paper, Website Globalization and E-Business Russia, which is
available via a free download in PDF format.

Feel free to review our resources and blogs that are
particularly relevant:

Comments

Fotini Limes - Director, Global AccountsFluent in German, Greek, French and Italian (as well as
English), Fotini has over 15 years of localization industry
experience serving in a multitude of operational and sales roles.
She has extensive experience in document, software, website and
multimedia localization and manages day-to-day global production
for GPI's project management and translation teams. She has lived
and worked in Germany, Greece, France and the USA.